20 PCWorld NOVEMBER 2019NEWS HANDS-ON: MICROSOFT SURFACE LAPTOP 3
Memory: 13-inch: 8GB/16GB LPDDR4x;
15-inch: 8/16/32GB DDR
Storage: 13-inch: 128/256/512/1TB
15-inch: 128/256/512GB M.2 SSD
Ports: USB-C, USB-A, Surface Connect,
3.5mm jack
Camera: 720p (user-facing)
Battery: 11.5 hours (estimated); quick-
charges up to 80 percent in 1 hour
Wireless: 13-inch: Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ax)/
Bluetooth 5.0; 15-inch 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.
Operating system: Windows 10 Home
(consumer)
Dimensions: 13-inch: 12.1 x 8.8 x 0.57 in.
(14.51mm) / 15-inch: 13.4 x 9.6 x 0.57 in.
(14.69 mm)
Weight: 13-inch: 2.89 pounds; 15-inch:
3.4 pounds
Color: Sandstone, plus Matte Black,
Cobalt Blue and Platinum in either Alcantarafabric or metal
Price: Preorders start at $999 at Microsoft.
com (go.pcworld.com/bsl3).
It’s worth noting that though the Surface
Laptop 3 is designed for consumers, there
will be a business option that allows corporate
buyers to purchase a 15-inch Surface Laptop
in a Core (Ice Lake) configuration, with
Windows 10 Pro.
While we’ve said before that both
Surface Laptops are surprisingly attractive,
they’re also unexpectedly light: 3.4 pounds
for a 15-inch laptop is an unexpected
bonus. They’re as sturdy as ever, steadfastly
refusing to flop around. As noted earlier,
there are several color options from which
to choose. The Sandstone option looks
particularly attractive.
Aside from the obvious differences in size,
though, neither of the Surface Laptop 3’s are
visually different
from the other.
They each have
a Surface
connector and a
USB-A port, the
same as before.
Now, however,
the Mini
DisplayPort of
previous
generations has
been replaced
A new USB-C port now appears on the Surface Laptop 3. with a single